Some Good News Revisited

Transcription

1 Some Good News Revisited Howard J Cohen, Ph.D. Talk given at the Silicon Valley Prostate Cancer Support Group Thursday 3 November Copyright , Howard J. Cohen, Ph.D., All Rights Reserved 1

2 SOME GOOD NEWS - Improvement Without Knives or Rays Howard J. Cohen, Ph.D. Mountain View Prostate Cancer Support Group 4 November text of the talk 2

3 Who Am I? Scientifically trained - PhD theoretical physics Technologically literate - worked 30+ years in software applications, 6 years in biotech Young (54 in 1999), healthy, reasonable physical condition Take-charge approach Humility in the face of cancer 3

4 What Did I Have? Diagnosed with biopsy confirmed Gleason 3+3 in July 1999 Only 2 of 14 cores were positive, 1 mm 2 each -- a small non-aggressive cancer burden This gave me time to research and think 4

5 Early PSA History 5

6 And Prostatitis... 6

7 And BPH... 7

8 OK, What Did I Do? Looked at the time I had to self-educate & decide gave myself 6-8 weeks (~ end of Sept 99) Education -- books, talking, web, MDs Vitamins/herbs Diet -- decrease animal fat, increase tofu, fruits Exercise Find a physician who I felt I could work with Alternative practitioners Secret weapon mothers' milk Decided on radical prostatectomy as the medical approach, with a world-class physician/surgeon Finding a physician & making a decision as to what medical approach to take was a relief, freeing up time/energy to focus more on other approaches However, decided that avoiding surgery and radiation and their side effects would be a Good Thing To Do (tm), if at all possible 8

9 Education Read various MD authored books on prostate & cancer & treatments Read Grove's Fortune Article Read Korda's book (Man to Man) NCI books, etc. Talked with prostate cancer survivors (including this group) Talked with a friend in biomedical research Talked with a relative in LA/Urologist Talked with a friend of a friend/uchicago Urologist Web searchs -- pros and cons 9

10 Theory Engage spontaneous healing Augment/enhance immune system Cells are constantly undergoing division in the body. Statistically, it is likely that events creating malignant cells are occurring with some regularity (due to random events, radiation, toxics, age related changes, etc.). The immune system is capable of finding and killing all these cells. In my case, I had a somewhat higher malignant load than the background, so additional help was needed. 10

11 Diet and Exercise Diet & Exercise Tried to be more regular with exercise, yoga & some aerobics Diet as noted earlier No plastic food (junk food, margarine, sodas, etc.) - decrease the toxic system load Increased vitamins and herbal supplements, anti-oxidants These are all standard approaches -- cf. capcure, et alia 11

12 Secret Weapon Human Mothers' Milk Mother's Milk Discover magazine (June 1999), NY Times, then Swedish researchers, then source Induces cancer cell apoptosis (programmed cell death) Leaves normal cells unaffected Researchers in Sweden discovered effect by chance They are seeking to patent and commercialize chemicals, so are less interested in low-cost, high-availability methods I took ~2 oz per day of milk in a fruit/yogurt/tofu smoothie for lunch the first year. I took 3.5 ounces/day in a smoothie for several more years. Now I take 4 ounces, twice a week as a maintenance dose. 12

13 More Details on Milk -1 Milk is a complex mixture of many chemicals It is known to kickstart babies' immune systems: Nursed children have fewer allergies Nursed children have fewer childhood infections Nursed children have less childhood cancer Nursed children have enhanced brain development Milk has known antibacterial & antiviral effects Anders' grad school serendipity became a career 13

14 More Details on Milk - 2 Human alpha-lactalbumin is different from other mammals' Human milk has more oleic acid than other mammals' In the stomach (acid), alpha-lactalbumin unfolds, releases a Ca+ ion, binds with oleic acid, assumes a new shape (conformation) The Swedes called this HAMLET Human Alpha-lactabumin Made LEthal to Tumors HAMLET selectively enters cancer cells & causes programmed cell death via two mechanisms. HAMLET leaves normal cells alone. Other factors in milk may help. 14

15 More Details on Milk - 3 Swedish pilot studies: Rat brains with human glioblastomas 9 men with bladder cancer Mice with human colon cancer Papilloma virus A's story metastatic colon cancer B's story inoperable squamous cell carcinoma Your mileage may vary 15

16 Bottom Lines PSA improvement was much faster, better than I expected I don't know whether this would work for anyone else, or how quickly I don't know how long the positive effects will last - only time will tell Do not try this instead of medical approaches if your cancer is spreading or acting up! Aggressive Monitoring or Active Surveillance: Monthly PSA (vs 3 months) Follow up MRIS every 6 months initially (vs 1 year), now annual Not clear on usefulness (for me) of TRUS; I've done a few I decided not to do follow on biopsies These approaches cannot hurt as supplements to a more conservative approach 16